


Respite

by AndyAO3



Series: Clockwork Detectives and Imported Antiques [5]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:21:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndyAO3/pseuds/AndyAO3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lazy day at Sunshine Tidings with nothing better to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Respite

**Author's Note:**

> I WROTE A PORN FOR YOU FILTHY SINNERS.
> 
> I dedicate this to the Metahuman Madness thing that seems to be going on. I also regret fucking nothing. Li is a dirty bastard who needs to wash his brain out with soap I swear. Also, finding a title was weirdly difficult? I didn't realize how much I was limiting myself when I picked Li's composer. WELP, I made my bed and now I'm gonna lie in it, I guess.
> 
> This is set before they go back to Diamond City and get dragged off to meet Harkness and his marshmallow, by the way. It's in-between-y. Yeah, I got nothin'.

It was cold. Not quite freezing. The ground was just starting to thaw after having gained a glittering layer of frost overnight. Li wasn't sure whether he should be planting things or not, it being towards the end of fall and threatening to shift into winter at any moment, but he had done harder construction projects in worse conditions before. The weather was hardly going to stop him from putting together a nice little garden for the people who might eventually call Sunshine Tidings home.

Everything had to be settled before he put up the beacon. Every contingency had to be accounted for before he left. Backups upon backups, everything set up for a population of at least two dozen. Graygarden had been the last place he'd thoroughly turned into a proper waystation. Before that, Sanctuary. He didn't really count the Castle, seeing as it was already fairly defensible when he'd gotten there.

Not exactly the fastest process, but it produced some impressive results and kept populations consolidated at given locations. The fact that they made for bigger targets that way was a non-issue; he'd gotten good at throwing laser turrets together. He hadn't quite managed to set up supply lines yet, but each settlement was strong enough on its own to not need them.

Like building infrastructure for the rest of the troops in Alaska all over, except with marginally less heavy artillery being aimed at him.

"Y'know, it's not exactly the right season to be doing that," Nick commented, leaned against the wall of the big structure in the middle. The sun was at just the right angle that he was in the building's shadow, emphasizing the glow of his eyes just _so_. Li had half a notion that it was on purpose.

"I imagine so, but you know me--" Li punctuated his words by using his trowel to pat down the bit of dirt he'd just put a seed in. "Never one to pass up an opportunity to disappoint my dead mother by doing menial tasks for ungrateful Americans."

Nick chuckled. He usually did. Whether it was because his sense of humor was as terrible as Li's, or because he was just easily amused, or-- well, honestly, it was Nick. Who knew with him? "Well, just because it's cold doesn't mean you can't get a sunburn. Don't take too long with it."

Li huffed and wagged his trowel at the old robot reproachfully. "I'd have to spend a lot more time than this outside to achieve a burn of any consequence, you know," he said, digging another hole to plop another seed in. The dirt was just soft and damp enough for his little tool to poke right through it. His hands were cold, but again, he'd had much worse. He wasn't about to lose any digits to frostbite when there wasn't any frost to be had.

But Nick was unconvinced. "Sure, just don't come cryin' to me later when you get blisters," he said, pulling a cigarette out of his coat along with his lighter.

Ugh. Really? Li rolled his eyes and sat up straighter to give Nick a bland look. "If you're so concerned about my well-being, you could always help."

"Heh. Not that concerned." Nick smirked and indicated his metal hand. "'Sides, can you imagine diggin' in the dirt with this thing? It's a pain in the ass to get all the mud outta the joints."

"You are by far the worst robot servant I've ever known."

"Probably for the best that I'm not a servant, then. Never was one for followin' orders."

Nick smiled then, a crooked thing that pulled just so at the scarred bits of his face. Gentle, and kind, and maybe a little bit knowing. Or maybe Li was imagining all of it, projecting emotions onto a face that couldn't quite express them.

The emotions were _there_ , though. There was no doubt of that. Seeing Nick with that smile, those eyes alight with what Li thought of as a sort of private mirth, he was struck with the thought that it would be a fine opportunity to go for a kiss. With nothing was stopping him from doing so aside from his work, he simply set down the trowel and stood, dusting his hands off on the way over.

He didn't have to be drunk to have any excuse anymore. All he had to do was hook his fingers in one of the open spaces at the detective's neck - mindful that he caught inner framework and not skin - and tug Nick down for a snog. Which was exactly what he did. And Nick didn't seem surprised in the least; Li could feel his smile, the faint reverbation of a soft laugh through his frame.

"Takin' a break, I suppose?" he murmured as they parted. Li huffed again and caught the detective's lower lip between his teeth in response. Not that Nick could feel pain in quite the same way he could, but it would suffice as a nonverbal 'don't be silly'. Of course he was taking a break. He'd been working all morning and all the bending and stooping was making his scars twinge. In his mind, that meant he deserved one.

"Inside?" he suggested. "Not that you don't make an excellent space heater, but it is a bit chilly for the amount of clothing I'd like to be rid of."

Nick flicked the cigarette aside and put it out with the toe of his shoe; his hands fell to Li's hips, tracing the subtle curves through layers of fabric. "I assume you've got some kinda plan," the old synth drawled.

"Not really." Sometimes Li had a plan. Other times, like right then, he just wanted to take advantage of the fact that he and Nick were the only ones there. Maybe make up for all of those moments before where he'd wanted to act and hadn't done so, the times when Nick had been so perfect (or so upset) that Li had felt like kissing him senseless. Plans weren't needed for that; the only requirements were enthusiasm and a desire to make Nick feel loved and wanted.

(Loved. Yes. Because he'd known from the moment he realized his heart ached for everything Nick had been through that he loved the old synth, at least to some extent. Even if Nick wasn't ready to know it yet, Li could admit it to himself.)

So without plans, the only thing for it was for Li to break away so that they could duck inside, closing all the doors on the way into the main building and turning on an _actual_ space heater for added warmth. In the opposite corner from the workbench, the terminal hummed as it dutifully kept track of the settlement's wandering Handy; the holes in the walls had been closed with hastily nailed-up boards or blocked with great huge Minutemen flags wherever Li had been able to get to them with a wobbly ladder, a hammer, and a handful of nails.

It was the most comfortable building in the co-op, with the least drafts and the most functional lighting. Sure, it lacked seating - and beds - but it had flat surfaces that weren't the floor, at least.

And as he perched himself on the main workbench and pulled Nick in by his tie for another lazy, unhurried kiss that tasted like cigarettes and metal and oil and _Nick_ , Li could easily concede that they'd fooled around in stranger places than this. That it was good enough for him to not give a shit, even if Nick's mouth was always dry and that metal hand sometimes pinched and scratched his skin.

Because Nick was careful, so careful. Took his time peeling off Li's various layers, undoing buttons one by one with deft hands. Drawing away from the kiss to trail his mouth over Li's jaw, down his neck, over his newly exposed collarbone.

"Beautiful," the detective mumbled, and Li bubbled up with laughter because it was so sincere, so clearly what Nick honestly thought of him. So he went to pull off Nick's trenchcoat and said with equal sincerity that Nick wasn't so bad himself, which got a chuckle out of the old synth that was frankly a wonderful thing to listen to.

There was no rush to any of it. Li took Nick's hat and coat and set them in a pile on top of the workbench, followed by the detective's tie and shirt soon after; Li's pip-boy was set down next to it all while his flannel button-down and undershirt were left to pool on the workbench's surface around him. Nick braced himself with his metal hand as his left wandered, tracing old scars and once-shattered ribs with a frown etching faint lines into his features.

When he spoke, his voice had a note of concern. "Cold's not bothering you too much, is it?"

Li sighed, placing a soft kiss at his synth's temple. It wouldn't do any good to lie, not to Nick. "The work more than the cold," he admitted. "So long as you don't expect me to play at being a contortionist for you, I should be fine."

The frown eased, replaced by a smirk as he resumed his work with the fastenings of Li's clothes. So slow and careful that it made Li wonder whether the detective was the sort to try and unwrap presents without ruining the wrapping paper. "Sure do know how to ruin a guy's fun, don'cha sweetheart?"

"I aim to please," Li replied sweetly. Then scooted forward enough to hook his legs around the backs of Nick's own, tapping on the workbench impatiently with his fingertips. He was getting impatient. "Come on. Second drawer from the top."

Nick lifted a brow questioningly but apparently thought better of asking, instead bending to open the aforementioned drawer and rifle through it. "Why, hello there..." His expression was distinctly amused as he came back up with a small bottle with a twist-off cap. "This what I think it is?"

"What can I say, I got tired of chafing." Nick's brows went up even further, and that simple change was enough to put Li on the defensive. "I'm telling you, I didn't plan this. The workbench is just where I dumped everything when we got here."

"Right..." Pulling off the cap, Nick poured some of the contents into his left hand, rubbing his fingers together as if to test the substance. "Anything in particular you were looking forward to?"

Anything in particular? Well, they were sort of limited in what they could do, weren't they? Neither of them had any toys on hand, unless Nick was a good deal better at hiding them on his person than Li had previously assumed. "My ass is off-limits for the moment," he said, "but other than that, all bets are off. Do what you want."

"For the moment," Nick echoed, smirking as he pulled Li from the confines of his pants; Li sucked in a hissing breath somewhere between the chilly air and the cool slickness of Nick's hand. _Yes_. Finally. "Guessing that means you might be up for it later."

The shock from the cold was fleeting, giving way to a warm, smooth glide and just enough pressure. Li huffed a laugh, arching into the touch. Into Nick's hand. God, he would never get over the fact that he got to have this. "Have to be ready for that sort of thing," he said somewhat belatedly.

Nick noticed the delay. He always noticed. Those bright eyes, those inhuman senses didn't miss a thing. Li could imagine him cataloguing all the details of every encounter, playing them back to himself when he was alone or bored in the synth equivalent of daydreaming. "Bet you'd be a helluva sight," he mused. He kept the pace of his strokes slow as he spoke, like he was savoring everything about how Li responded to him. "Hands and knees, face-down on a mattress with your hair down. Ass in the air, all ready for me."

Li shivered in spite of himself. Fuck, that wasn't even usually what he went for. But the way Nick said it, he almost wanted to. "You know," he began, licking his lips, "I'm sure we could throw together something you could strap on. Just for the sake of being able to, ah, fully appreciate it."

"Now there's a thought." Nick's gaze raked over him, making him feel more exposed than he already was. Laid bare for all to see. And even if there was no one there to see them, Li was acutely aware of how none of the doors in that building had proper locks on them. If anyone did come to the settlement, they could just walk right in.

His cock twitched at the thought, and he bit his lower lip to muffle a faint whine. Tried to ignore the things Nick's low, rough chuckle did to him as the old synth sped up his movements. Still not quite enough to do anything but drive Li up a wall and get him rocking his hips as an insistent counterpoint to Nick's steady rhythm, muttering a curse under his breath. He wouldn't beg, though. Not even for Nick. Not even if it was what Nick wanted.

Nick smirked in a way that said he knew exactly what he was doing. "Someone sounds frustrated."

Li laughed breathlessly as he brought his hands up to catch Nick by his frayed edges and ragged seams, seeking out warm metal to curl chilly fingers around. Not tugging, just holding on-- trying to stay grounded, to find something to focus on other than the heat pooling in his gut. "Well," he said with as much composure as he could manage, "with anyone else I would've knocked them down and taken over by now. And I can't do that. Not with you."

"Oh?" As if to egg him on, Nick's hand slowed to the point that Li bit back a groan, head tipping forward. That _bastard_. "What's stoppin' you?"

Damn it, fine. "What's stopping me," Li ground out, "is that it would be ill-advised to pin you down and fuck your face."

Now, he was expecting Nick to stop after that. Maybe give him a weird look, tell him he was peculiar somehow. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been told off for one of his little kinks, even if it would be the first time Nick had done so.

What he wasn't expecting was for Nick to laugh softly, leaning in to kiss away his preemptively dejected pout. Pausing, but not drawing away-- more amused than anything.

"Says who?" the synth murmured, before dropping to his knees and doing something that Li _definitely_ hadn't expected; something that had him gasping and his hand flying up to the back of Nick's head, fingers digging into his partner's scalp.

Oh, God. It wasn't anything like having a human go down on him. No gag reflex meant that Nick could swallow him down all at once, meant that the synth wasn't the least bit bothered by how Li's hips jerked at the suddenness of it. But at the same time there wasn't actually any swallowing involved, just an easy slide into lubricated warmth with just the faintest rasp of teeth. The open air from the holes in his neck was novel, too, another shock that Li wasn't quite prepared for.

Then Nick began to move, and somewhere between his tongue and his lips and the way his quiet laughter seemed to reverberate through Li's cock, all attempts at coherent thought were abandoned. It was pointless to try and make it last by that point; it had been so long since anyone had done something like that for him that Li was far from used to it, and Nick wasn't bothering to hold back either, bobbing his head and applying just enough pressure with his tongue.

Not long after that Li made a choked sound, throwing his head back and raking blunt nails over the back of Nick's head as his hips slammed forward, spilling into the synth's throat without so much as a warning.

In hindsight, probably not the best idea.

"Sorry," he gasped, quick to let go as he caught his breath in the aftermath. His softening cock fell from Nick's mouth with a wet sound, the synth looking up at him and quirking a brow; the look in those bright eyes was almost smug.

God, Nick was a mess. A beautiful, glorious mess that Li would have found terribly erotic were he still in his twenties. As it was, his cock was putting forth a valiant but feeble effort towards perking up again at the sight. "You weren't kiddin', huh?"

Li chuckled weakly, leaning forward to trail his fingers through the mess he'd made of Nick's inner workings. "You didn't have to do that, you know. Now we're going to have to get you cleaned up."

"Ehh, I'm alright with that." Nick pressed his wet lips to Li's hip, smirking to himself. "It's worth it, ain't it?"

"Dirty old man," Li teased. "You shouldn't enable me. I'm terrible."

Nick was slow to stand, his joints creaking audibly as he came back up to look Li in the eye properly. "Maybe I like terrible," he mumbled, before leaning in for a kiss. A kiss that tasted awful, lube and bitter come mingling with that permanent aftertaste of cigarettes, but a kiss that Li returned anyway.

They could be terrible together, then.

 


End file.
